Sovereignty

Copyright © 2009 by Apostle Samuel J. Ugochukwu.

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Contents

CHAPTER ONE

SOVEREIGNTY

CHAPTER TWO

A CALL TO TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

CHAPTER THREE

WHERE ARE THE SONS?

CHAPTER FOUR

LOWERING THE STANDARDS, COMPROMISING THE RULES.

CHAPTER FIVE

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN

WE LOWER THE STANDARDS

AND COMPROMISE THE RULES

CHAPTER SIX

CONSECRATION

CHAPTER SEVEN

MORALITY VERSUS HOLINESS

CHAPTER EIGHT

FAITH, PRAYER, FASTING

AND PRAISE

CHAPTER NINE

WHAT ARE YOU DOING

FOR THE LORD?

CHAPTER TEN

TIME FOR RESTORATION

CHAPTER ELEVEN

GOD IS NOT THE BEST!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I give all the glory to God for His inspiration to write this book Sovereignty without whom none of this would have been possible.

To my dear wife Lucy, who stands by me through the rough road of Ministry and whose amazing love is more than strength. Your countless efforts of taking care of the family while I was busy writing is unsurpassed and gave me the strength to go on.

To sister Nwakaego Agu, who encouraged me to publish this book at all costs. Your support has been a great source of encouragement.

To my dear children David and Diana, for their understanding and patience. You are precious to me and I love you.

To my readers, I pray that this book will find you, and help you to take a second look at your faith in God. May you find the answer to all your situations in God’s word.

CHAPTER ONE

SOVEREIGNTY

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb 10:31

If humanity, both believers and unbelievers will understand Sovereignty and come to terms with it, our understanding of who God is in our lives and society will change. The word SOVEREIGNTY has a biblical meaning and a philosophical meaning, and we will examine both meanings in their entirety.

When we hear the word SOVEREIGNTY what comes to mind are these sets of words, which we will examine in other to get a good grip on the word.

Potentate:—One who possesses great power, a sovereign, a monarch or a ruler. Dominion, authority, control and power.

I believe that this description covers whatever meaning any one can come up with at this time.

Sovereignty, though its meaning has varied across history, also has a core meaning (Supreme authority with a territory). According to Stanford philosophy dictionary, it is a modern notion of political authority. Historical variants can be understood along these three dimensions.

1. The holder of Sovereignty.

2. The absoluteness of Sovereignty.

3. The internal and external dimensions of Sovereignty.

The state is the political institution in which sovereignty is embodied. An assemblage of states forms a sovereign states system. (e.g.) United States of America. The modern polity that emerged dominant in the early modern Europe manifested the quality of the collectivity that Dr. Kantorowicz described as a single, unified one, confined within territorial boarders, possessing a single set of interests ruled by an authority that was bundled into a single entity and held supreme in advancing their interests.

Through the early modern times, kings would hold this authority. Later, practitioners of it would include the people ruling through a constitution, nations, communist parties, dictators, juntas, and theocracies. With this little analysis, it is clear that to be sovereign; the powers of the state will have to be placed into one’s hand. You must have authority, control, and power.

There are many definitions given concerning sovereignty and each component of these definitions highlights an important aspect of the concept. A holder of sovereignty possesses authority. That is to say, the person or entity does not merely wield coercive power, defined as—

a. The ability to cause someone to do what he or she would otherwise not do.

b. Philosopher R.P. Wolff proposed authority rather as a right or the right to command and correlatively the right to be obeyed. e.g.,

1And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. 3And Joab said unto the king, now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? 4Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. 5And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer: 2nd Samuel 24:1-5.

c. A holder of sovereignty derives authority from some mutually acknowledged sources of legitimacy.

(1) Natural law.

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2.

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26-28

(2) A divine mandate.

1And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Exodus 20:1-7.

(3) Hereditary law.

1Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man; 3And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself: 4That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. 5Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. 6Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. 7But show kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother. 8And, behold, thou hast with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. 9Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood. 10So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 11And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. 12Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly. 1stKings 2:1-12.

(4) A constitution. Like that of the United States of America, or the unwritten laws of England.

Therefore, if sovereignty is a matter of authority, then it is not a matter of mere authority but of some supreme authority. Supremacy is what made the constitution of the United States of America superior to all the government of states in America, or any one else in the United states. Whether you are a police Chief or chief executive of any corporation, the holder of sovereignty is superior to all authority under its purview.

I used this historical and philosophical description of sovereignty from Stanford dictionary to bring us closer to the understanding of sovereignty and how it worked and in some cases still working.

GODS WORD HAS ITS OWN

DEFINITION OF SOVEREIGNTY.

SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD: A theological term that refers to the unlimited power of God, who has sovereign control over the affairs of men, nature and history.

Isaiah 45:9-20 says: 9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou? On the other hand, thy work, He hath no hands. 10Woe unto him that saith unto his father, what begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? 11Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts. 14 Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. 15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. 16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end. 18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

The story of redemption from Genesis to Revelation is possible only because the sovereign God loves his created world, fallen though it is, and he is able to do something about it. Without the sovereign love of the father ministered to us through the Son and the Holy Spirit, there would be no real human freedom and no hope of everlasting life. With this little explanation and more to come we can draw this conclusion that God is the one and only [a] OMNIPOTENT, [b] OMNISCIENT, [c] OMNIPRESENT. No one else has what it takes to answer those three names.

It is then safe for me in the light of these and other evidences, spiritually and physically available to us today; to declare that God is the only sovereign one in existence and the only one that will ever live.

Many people tried but died and could not live. Versailles was made the capital of France by King Louis the XIV in 1682 and remained until 1789 when it was moved back to Paris. The beautiful palace of Versailles included an opulent 241-foot-long hall of mirrors.

When a visitor approached the King, he had to curtsy every five steps as he walked the entire distance to meet the King sitting on his dazzling silver throne.

Foreign emissaries to France submitted to that humiliating ritual to court the French Monarch’s favor toward their country. He died and was buried and forgotten. By contrast, our God, the King of Kings, invites you to come unto him, for any reasons.

God, by virtue of being the creator of this universe is by natural law made the supreme sovereignty. Hannah the mother of Prophet Samuel described God’s sovereignty in such a dimension that I do not know if there is anyone living that has gotten such a revelation of God. Lets read:

3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 4 The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them. 9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. 1st Samuel 2:3-10.

When you read these places in the scripture: Gen1:1-30; Gen 6-8:22, you find that when God created the whole world, He gave man such sovereign authority over all His creation on earth until man disobeyed Him and sinned.

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:26-31

Hannah described God in 1st. Samuel 2:3.

1. He is a God of knowledge. The all knowing, OMNISCIENCE.

2. He only can determine an appropriate action on every matter, weighs our actions. OMNIPRESENCE.